A message from Elaine, our woodwork lead:
Dear parents and carers
I am writing to you about the woodwork opportunities we provide in nursery. We believe that woodwork is a wonderful medium for children to work with, but I am sure a few of you may be surprised that we allow the children to use real tools such as hammers and saws! I wanted to take this opportunity to reassure you that safety is always prioritised.
We adhere to strict guidelines including that children must wear safety glasses at all times, and that sawing is only ever done with 1:1 adult supervision. Of course we cannot eliminate all risk (and there may be an occasional bruised thumb!) but part of children's development is that they need to lear to manage risk appropriately and make judgements to protect themselves so they are better able to make decisions in a variety of life situations.
Woodwork is one of those activities that truly engages children and encompasses all areas of learning and development. Children respond to the challenge and very much enjoy working with wood and real tools.
With the popularity of this activitiy, our biggest problem is keeping up with demand. Therefore if you do have any softer wooden offcuts or other resources we could use in the area (corks, bottle tops, lids etc) then we would be incredibly grateful.
We look forward to sharing with you what the children have created, but remember that the real product is the changes that this bring within the child!
As children create with wood they are learning skills that will empower them to shape their world and encourage them to be the innovators, makers, sculptors, designers, engineers, architects and tinkerers of tomorrow.
